Building the Ultimate Solar System

36 habitable worlds. Wow. [Link]

We are building the ultimate Solar System.    In Part 1 we chose the right star.  In Part 2 we chose the right planets. In Part 3 we chose the right orbits for the planets.  In Part 4 we learned two ninja moves about how more than one planet/moon can share the same orbit.

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Today’s job: putting it all together to build the ultimate Solar System.

Let’s look at our ingredients.

1. A star a little smaller than the Sun (50-70% of the mass of the Sun).
2. Worlds (planets or moons) between half and twice the size of Earth, with between one-tenth and ten times as much water as Earth.
3. Any other accessories that we might need (e.g., gas giant planets).

We can arrange these ingredients in any way we choose.  Our goal is to pack as many worlds as we can into the habitable zone.  We can use our ninja tricks (co-orbital planets and moons).  But the system must remain stable for billions of years.  It won’t do us any good if there is a dynamical instability that sends a bunch of habitable worlds falling onto the star.

I am torn between two ultimate Solar Systems.  Both are awesome.  The first one only contains Earth-sized planets.  The second also includes gas giant planets with Earth-sized moons.

Let’s build these suckers!

Finally,  Firefly's and Battlestar Galactica's solar systems make sense.